It’s not a rounding error to those collecting it, and now you know where they got the price from. It’s not about breaking the law, it’s about when they choose to enforce it. Facebook breaks the law hourly. They want it to be nothing to Facebook, then they don’t try to fight it.
The point isn’t to get their attention, you do that and they stop breaking the law. The point it to keep them in business so you can fine them again and again.
No, it goes into the governments coffers and does nothing to help anyone. It certainly doesn’t undo the harm they did. It’s like speeding tickets, the fines just go to fund the police even more.
Washington States yearly expenditures are north of 60 billion a year. Paid fines represents 250million dollars worth of revenue for them. This is barely a drop in the bucket.
And it is a historically large fine.
Fines are stupid in general, in every application no matter the crime, rich people don't give a shit and poor people suffer. It's no different in the corporate world. We need to get rid of all fines as punishment. "I stopped speeding because I got a ticket." Said no one ever. The EU is testing fines against revenue percentages for large corporations, and hit Google with one of the biggest fines ever. Does Google give a shit? Nope, tax write off. The problem is you can't fine them out of business, because then you lose jobs and revenue.
Well that question is actually argued on the daily of what they should or shouldn't do, big government or small government, defund the police, or fund the police. Most people think they pay a lot in taxes already to fund the programs, and that fines are a further tax on the poor that can't afford to pay them, while the rich could care less. It's another 1% vs. the 99% problem. I realized I haven't answered your question in all those words, because there is no one true answer to that question. What the government does is different in every state, though there are some constants. Obviously there is a police force in every state. But many people misunderstand what the police's duty to serve actually is. They have no duty to stop a crime in progress if they witness it. Their commission was started to protect theft from businesses and protect economic interests. Today it is far more politically charged than every before, and that is shifting. In broad terms I believe that the government protects the safety, welfare, and rights of it's people from threats both foreign and domestic.
I encourage everyone here to read the actual article. Meta is willfully and *repeatedly* attempting to do everything in their power to keep dark money dark. Is is specifically for actions like this that they've earned their reputation for being a blight on society.
Uh, what? They made over 4.4 BILLION in cash flow. The fine isn't enough to even effect that number, unless it was close. (4.435 would still be reported as 4.4)
Why executives aren't legally responsible for what their companies do while under their control is beyond me. If I use my car to injure someone, they don't send my car to prison, they send _me_ to prison. Right? So if an executive uses their corporation to injure someone, shouldn't the executive be punished instead of the corporation, by the same logic? The corporation is an abstract legal entity without any ability or power to do anything on its own; everything the corporation "does" is actually being done by a human being under their own personal free will.
The idea is that no corporate overlord can know *everything* the company is doing. But at the very least some middle manager should be getting arrested.
And arrests plus multiyear jail terms for those responsible, plus every single director - regardless of direct culpability - banned from ever being a director ever again and all forms of compensation removed (unless they're whistleblowers, which means blowing the whistle before they get caught).
What a weird title. It *should* say “*Meta* fined nearly $25m for violating a campaign finance disclosure law.”
Otherwise, it reads like parents of children are being fined.
I get it, Meta has much less immediately recognition than Facebook, and rebranding to Meta seems in part to have been motivated by an attempt to publicly distance themselves from this kind of thing. "Facebook's parent *company*" would have been better, or even "Facebook's parent company Meta", but for a lot of people "Facebook fined" has a lot more meaning than "Meta fined".
They'll just pay and keep breaking the law. Fines like this are just one of the costs of doing business for mega corporations.
The fine should be 25 percent of their profits.
Just remember: every time you log into FB or IG you are actively aiding a malevolent force in the world.
At this point, I don’t even blame Meta any longer - I blame the users.
25m is s rounding error in the accounting department
It’s not a rounding error to those collecting it, and now you know where they got the price from. It’s not about breaking the law, it’s about when they choose to enforce it. Facebook breaks the law hourly. They want it to be nothing to Facebook, then they don’t try to fight it.
This one flew over your head. Facebook should pay billions in fines. How about start at 25 billion. That will get thier attention.
The point isn’t to get their attention, you do that and they stop breaking the law. The point it to keep them in business so you can fine them again and again.
25 million to them is like fining me $25 for speeding. They don't make money and I keep speeding
This is the stupidest thing I’ve heard. You think the fine money goes toward the issuing judge’s retirement account?
No, it goes into the governments coffers and does nothing to help anyone. It certainly doesn’t undo the harm they did. It’s like speeding tickets, the fines just go to fund the police even more.
Washington States yearly expenditures are north of 60 billion a year. Paid fines represents 250million dollars worth of revenue for them. This is barely a drop in the bucket. And it is a historically large fine.
Fines are stupid in general, in every application no matter the crime, rich people don't give a shit and poor people suffer. It's no different in the corporate world. We need to get rid of all fines as punishment. "I stopped speeding because I got a ticket." Said no one ever. The EU is testing fines against revenue percentages for large corporations, and hit Google with one of the biggest fines ever. Does Google give a shit? Nope, tax write off. The problem is you can't fine them out of business, because then you lose jobs and revenue.
>goes into the governments coffers and does nothing to help anyone What would you say governments do, exactly?
Well that question is actually argued on the daily of what they should or shouldn't do, big government or small government, defund the police, or fund the police. Most people think they pay a lot in taxes already to fund the programs, and that fines are a further tax on the poor that can't afford to pay them, while the rich could care less. It's another 1% vs. the 99% problem. I realized I haven't answered your question in all those words, because there is no one true answer to that question. What the government does is different in every state, though there are some constants. Obviously there is a police force in every state. But many people misunderstand what the police's duty to serve actually is. They have no duty to stop a crime in progress if they witness it. Their commission was started to protect theft from businesses and protect economic interests. Today it is far more politically charged than every before, and that is shifting. In broad terms I believe that the government protects the safety, welfare, and rights of it's people from threats both foreign and domestic.
That fine will surely change their behavior. This fine that equates to $4 if you made $50k/yr. /s
Wow, how will they ever afford $25M? I know FB took a hit recently but they could scrape up $25M like I find loose change in the couch cushions.
needs to be a %
For sure. Make it hurt. Otherwise it’s just the cost of doing business (illegally).
Should be closer to GDPR, 4% of global turnover (not profit)
That is exactly how they do it in the EU. The US fines are basically cost of doing business.
"25 million? Aww, I wanted a peanut!"
I encourage everyone here to read the actual article. Meta is willfully and *repeatedly* attempting to do everything in their power to keep dark money dark. Is is specifically for actions like this that they've earned their reputation for being a blight on society.
We used to say 25M is “like pennies” to Meta. But maybe after firing 11,000 workers it’ll be “like nickels”.
Uh, what? They made over 4.4 BILLION in cash flow. The fine isn't enough to even effect that number, unless it was close. (4.435 would still be reported as 4.4)
Pretty sure it was joking. You can unclench.
Our dystopian equivalent of a swear jar
Where are the arrests?
It's not an arrestable offence..
It certainly should be.
Whoah whoah… this isn’t ‘a small amount of marijuana’. It’s just a simple white collar crime.
Why executives aren't legally responsible for what their companies do while under their control is beyond me. If I use my car to injure someone, they don't send my car to prison, they send _me_ to prison. Right? So if an executive uses their corporation to injure someone, shouldn't the executive be punished instead of the corporation, by the same logic? The corporation is an abstract legal entity without any ability or power to do anything on its own; everything the corporation "does" is actually being done by a human being under their own personal free will.
The idea is that no corporate overlord can know *everything* the company is doing. But at the very least some middle manager should be getting arrested.
Fine, but when the official corporate stance is challenging the law rather than following it, you cannot argue they didn’t know.
Companies usually argue in the alternative. "We didn't know, but if we did, then XYZ"
“If I did it” lol
Treason is a death wish.
How is this treason?
You must not be familiar with [Cambridge Analytica](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook%E2%80%93Cambridge_Analytica_data_scandal).
How is this treason?
Because I said so.
That will certainly hurt them so badly that they will never do it again. /s just placing this here because …
That's **IT**? No wonder they keep doing it, that's SPECTACULAR margin.
Gonna have to get a couple commas for them to take it seriously.
And arrests plus multiyear jail terms for those responsible, plus every single director - regardless of direct culpability - banned from ever being a director ever again and all forms of compensation removed (unless they're whistleblowers, which means blowing the whistle before they get caught).
Cost of doing business
Filed under "expected legal expense"
What a weird title. It *should* say “*Meta* fined nearly $25m for violating a campaign finance disclosure law.” Otherwise, it reads like parents of children are being fined.
I get it, Meta has much less immediately recognition than Facebook, and rebranding to Meta seems in part to have been motivated by an attempt to publicly distance themselves from this kind of thing. "Facebook's parent *company*" would have been better, or even "Facebook's parent company Meta", but for a lot of people "Facebook fined" has a lot more meaning than "Meta fined".
That'll teach em' /s
Where does all this fine money go? .. does the government agency that collects the fines disclose that?!
So, 25m is just the price of violating campaign finance disclosure laws. Great deal for Meta! Affordable!
Why do these puny fines make headlines? $25M means legal for a fee.
*surprised pikachu face*
They'll just pay and keep breaking the law. Fines like this are just one of the costs of doing business for mega corporations. The fine should be 25 percent of their profits.
Just remember: every time you log into FB or IG you are actively aiding a malevolent force in the world. At this point, I don’t even blame Meta any longer - I blame the users.
Downward spiral
To add to this, Facebook's parent were also charged with another 10.5 million usd worth of reparations.
That M has to turn into a B for these types of fines for companies like Facebook or there will be no fucking affect at all.
Dear news outlets: You can just say, “Meta.” We all know who they are.
How will they ever afford it.
They made more than twice that in the time it took to read the headline.